Lost in Illusio
by LordLenne
Summary: Should your being be unfit to withstand the power of this land, you will find yourself soon falling into endless depravity, never able to escape. In essence, you would be with death. Three young heroes, from three different points in time—have come to such a cruel place. But it is crueler that to arrive in this land, they gave up everything they had. [Ness, Lucas, Ninten]
1. Prologue

Chapter 1: Prologue

I welcome the presence of all that arrive here, but all receive the same warning.

Should your being be unfit to withstand the power of this land, you will find yourself soon falling into endless depravity, never able to escape from anything again. In essence, you would be with death.

Three young heroes, from three different points in time…have come to such a cruel place.

But it is crueler that to arrive in this land, they gave up everything they had.

They, who held a burden with the weight of the world—they soon sought this place of illusions.

For what do they seek to accomplish by coming here? To hide with cowardice? To escape into deception? To smile at delusions of joy?

For these young souls, who should not be blamed to have been reluctantly tasked with great burdens, I give them all a second chance. Another opportunity to find true meaning in their lives once more, else let them meet eternal nothingness: their second desire.

I cannot say I wish to meet these young heroes with my own eyes. But perhaps, they may be the first ones to see through this land's curse…or perhaps not.

Will they finally be my salvation?

Only intangible time in this world will tell.


	2. The First

**A/N: Leon here. Chapter 3 to come soon, 99% likely today! Need to sleep first, though.  
**

* * *

Chapter 2: The First

A world of pure darkness.

No human, no animal, no unnatural being. No water, air, earth or heat. No light. Only dark.

Where was this boy? Heaven? Hell?

He laid still, floating forever in empty space. He couldn't feel, let alone see, hear, or breathe. He couldn't even do what he wanted to do the most: tasting the little bit left of hope that never existed.

His mind was empty. Not because he cleared it himself, or that he was not allowed to by the unforgiving god in the darkened world.

His world—his previous world—his whole previous world had shattered into nothing. He rejected everything, even the love that he was constantly given unrequitedly.

All because everything was too much. And only one hand reached out to pity him at the end of his life.

 _All he wanted was a longer life filled with love._

:*:

Calm breezes brushed past a young boy's hair as he slept on crushed green grass. Slowly, the boy's senses reactivated, starting with his sensitive touch. The wind pushed the long stem of a sunflower into the boy's face, the slapping impact eventually awakening his senses.

His closed eyes squinted tight first before he opened them. Unfazed by the warm sky, he rubbed his eyes awake before sitting up and perused his immediate proximity. He noticed he had been resting peacefully in a meadow of thin leaves, right next to one flower that had woken him.

He sat still, making sure he was human. He flexed his fingers, rocked his arm gently, moved his toes, and anything that he easily controlled the muscles of. He regained most of his senses eventually.

The last thing he remembered was being blinded by a pillar of light. Any background, person, or thing had vanished before that. The rest of his memories were shattered—everything was blurry or hurt to remember. Entering the blinding light was the only scenario he vividly recalled. That, and his name.

"Lucas," he mumbled. After uttering it, he had hoped to remember more than just one faded picture, but it failed.

The boy stood up and reevaluated his body again. He was about thirteen years old, he guessed. His body felt young—a little tired from sleep—but believed it could be pushed to a high athletic extent if he tried. Satisfied with how he was now, he looked around the area. Right next to the grass was an immediate boundary of sand, which flowed on for a while until there was unevenly cut water. Beyond the boundary of the boy's vision was endless blue on both halves.

" _Where am I?"_ thought the boy. " _Is this my home_?" He repeated the word 'home'. Something sounded off about uttering the word in an unfamiliar place. He did his best to remember where he came from, wherever "home" was. Nothing immediately popped up, instead, his head only hurt more. He wondered if this unknown land was his home.

There was not a house or anything that looked like shelter in sight. Behind Lucas was a mass of trees, and he was not able to see through the forest shield. He even felt a little tense about attempting to walk through the woods, and reluctantly kept his distance. Though he knew he couldn't just stay in the same place forever: he had to go somewhere. He needed to find out where he was and most of all, why. Thus, he decided to walk down the beach in hopes of finding clues to answer his questions.

He began walking, without regard for his safety despite knowing he was unfamiliar with his surroundings. He continued on, watching his feet as he walked down the shore, counting the endless steps his shoeprints made in the sand. He looked up and finally realized that there was a vast shoreline, and doubted the idea of continuing on it.

The only other path to take was through the forest, which gave off a discomforting vibe. Lucas looked up and down the forest boundary and saw that the it was as endless as the beachline. He could walk down the beach forever but still not know what laid inside the forest. The ocean beyond seemed eternal, too. There really was no other choice but to go through—still, he felt scared.

Then, glancing up in surprise, he saw a flashing silhouette in front of him. For a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks, and so he rubbed his eyes. However, the mysterious being became more discernible but not too much—enough to where the forest could still be seen through its whole figure. Lucas ignored that aspect and widened his eyes at the sight of orange hair, a black jacket, and orange pants. The figure didn't turn around, and instead walked towards the trees. Immediately, something told Lucas to follow the unknown person without question.

Lucas took his first step off the beach and back onto thin grass, which soon became thicker with further steps. Nature's grass became more profound as he closed in on the first tree that prodded out among the others. Once he stepped past it, his body began to shake uncontrollably.

" _ **Do you dare seek escape?"**_

A cloud of heaviness filled the blonde's head—the words echoing repeatedly and begging him to answer soon. Lucas was not sure what the question had meant, but he sensed there little intimidation from the warm voice. It was as if he was welcomed to step in without regard for shame, and urged him to let go of everything he had forgotten about.

Lucas was backed into a corner. There was no other path to take, a voice attempted to persuade his decisions, and on top of that, he felt the needed to find that mysterious silhouette that immediately captured his attention. Believing he was little on time, he stepped forward again, and then his mind cleared quickly.

Lucas kept walking forward, hoping to hear the voice again, or see something new beyond the repeating pattern of wood and leaves. The path seemed to be a looping one, but he convinced himself that he needed to only keep walking forward. He felt he would find what he wanted eventually, he just hoped only soon.

Light from above faded away slowly. The fear gradually resting in Lucas' heart was gaining power to take over his whole mind. As much as the boy did his best, the infinite forest surrounding him only continued to frighten him. How long more did he have to walk? Will something suddenly appear to attack him? Will no one come to his rescue? The negativity overpowered his optimism, and he almost felt frail.

He almost faced fatigue to the point where his stamina was waning. However, he knew if he fell here, then everything would end. The one thing he was not going to do was give up—he kept walking, no matter how weaker his steps became, or how smaller the distance his feet were reaching. He looked onwards into the depths of the darkness, reaching out for anything to rescue him from the aura that emanated from the forest.

And then, he tripped over a small root that he failed to notice. Landing roughly onto the ground, he almost teared up and crunched his face to try and stop the pain. He laid on the ground with an uncomfortable position, trying his best to push himself up with his arms. Then, he felt a new sensation—millions of dark hands were slowly crawling towards him. He did not look away from the path in front of him, because he could easily imagine the energy of the forest slowly creeping around him. Instead of being fearful, he felt enticed, as if as soon as he was caught, he would be in eternal comfort. He wouldn't have to work so hard walking down this infinite path any longer.

Yet, Lucas still promised himself: he was not going to let things stop there. He scrunched his teeth, forced himself up, and screamed. He yelled to make sure anything at the end of the forest would hear him, and he ran with all his might.

Light finally returned, but only brighter. The boy's strength returned as well, and it only boosted his will to run faster and soon reach the end of his first step.

Lucas emerged into a new area. Grander trees with the largest heads of leaves he had ever seen opened up a peaceful glade where light was still shining through them and around. As he peered into the background, he was still in the endless forest, but he was able to feel at ease in the new area.

Lucas walked forward, still cautious of his surroundings, he looked for anything peculiar left and right. Then he looked ahead, and saw a body. The body of another boy.

He ran quickly and kneeled down to the fallen boy's side. The fallen boy's eyes were closed, and his hat also fallen to the side. Lucas recognized that the boy was not sleeping, but something close to it.

"Hello?" Lucas called out. His voice failed to wake him up. His body still laid motionless.

Lucas called out again, "Hello?" This time, he reached out to touch the boy's shoulder. However, he suddenly pulled back, feeling a familiar darkened aura surrounding the fallen boy. He tried reaching out again, and confirmed the darkness's existence. If he had gotten too close, he would have been bitten at.

He was worried for the boy, even if this was the first time had seen him. Maybe it was because it felt like they were probably the only two people in the entire world at the moment. He wondered what cruelty the boy was experiencing in his mind right now, being enveloped by a hostile aura.

There was definitely no way Lucas was going to leave him alone. He was too good-willed to do otherwise. He wanted to try anything to save him.

Lucas took a deep breath, and then reached for the boy's hand. As soon as he grabbed hold of it, he blacked out and fell.

The winds whispered as they found two more that arrived in this harsh land.


	3. The Second

Chapter 3: The Second

A world of pure darkness.

No human, no animal, no unnatural being. No water, air, earth or heat. No light. Only dark.

Where was this boy? Heaven? Hell?

He laid still, floating forever in empty space. He couldn't feel, let alone see, hear, or breathe. He couldn't even do what he wanted to do the most: tasting the little bit left of hope that never existed.

His mind was empty. Not because he cleared it himself, or that he was not allowed to by the unforgiving god in the darkened world.

His world—his previous world—his whole previous world had shattered into nothing. He rejected everything, even the love that he was constantly given unrequitedly.

All because everything was too much. Only one hand reached out to pity him at the end of his life.

 _All he asked for was a normal life._

 **:*:**

Dreaming was one of the Ness's favorite hobbies. It was because in dreams, he could control how happy he wanted to be in a world that was under his rule. However, he could only manage that world for so long—at least until his mind returned to reality.

At some point in his life, he yearned for the power to sleep forever. That way, he would never be able to leave the land of eternal happiness.

He did not expect that wish to come true.

From emptiness into sudden consciousness, the raven-haired boy quickly opened his eyes and found himself in a new land. He looked down at his legs, and saw that he was in his normal clothes. He looked up and saw that there was suddenly a forest in his eyes beyond two giant trees that stood in his way.

"Is this Magicant?" the boy mumbled. The boy, familiar with his name, but unfamiliar and anxious with his surroundings, had hoped so. Ness was not sure where he exactly was. At one point he remembered falling asleep in a bed, and then living happily in his dream land. Then, for a brief moment, everything had blacked out. Then he returned to…well, he was not sure if this was the dream world he cherished, or if it was reality.

He knew for sure, however, he did dream a peaceful picture from where he lied presently, but who knows for how long. He did not know when he ended up in the new world that he was presently in.

Ness had a nice dream. It was in a world where he was smiling with his family, which included his mother, sister, pet dog, and father. His friends were town neighbors—who went to the same school with him—and they played games together every day. At home, he enjoyed games with his sister and next door neighbor's little brother. The day ended with plates of his favorite food, and then peaceful rest in his bed. As he closed his eyes, he cherished his life.

Everything was just fine.

He woke up with a smile, but opened his eyes with shock to an unfamiliar setting.

After regaining his most of his awareness, he attempted to move his body up. Moving just his legs for a slight moment, he discerned the feeling of his body within motion in the world of reality. He discovered he was not dreaming.

He became certain he was not dreaming when he felt the touch of a hand with his own. Looking over, he found the body of another boy with blonde hair next to him, who was also in a silent state.

" _Who is this_?" Ness questioned. He looked down at their touching hands, and after lightly rubbing his fingers onto the other's, he recognized a strange black aura. It was something that had just enveloped him recently without his notice.

" _What's happening to him?"_ Ness changed into a kneeled stance to see if he could try to heal the boy. Although it did not seem like the blonde was in pain, in fact, he saw a small smile, like he was dreaming in sleep. Yet, Ness could not shake off the feeling that something bad was happening to him.

"Hey, wake up," said Ness as he shook the boy's shoulder. There was no response. "Hey," Ness tried again, but the blonde did not move a muscle.

" _Is he just in a deep sleep?"_ was the conclusion Ness came to. He did not want to force the boy awake, but he needed to find answers as to where he was, and who was this person he was with, and why. Therefore, Ness used his abilities as a psychic to gently reach out to him—that was, telepathy.

Ness concentrated his mind energy and sent it towards the other's mind. However, the waves of communication were reflected back to him, shaking his own mind with a small pain. He winced and grunted as he realized his telepathy was being blocked, but not by him—but by the negative aura that he still sensed.

"Come on…" Ness mumbled. He was about to try telepathy again, but he was stopped by the sound of a low growl. That, and the sudden presence of a large quantity of negativity.

A sense of fear shot through Ness' body as he turned around, and saw something horrifying.

From the depths of the forest crept an intangible being of shadow, readily exuding familiar negative aura. It slowly emanated out from the darkness, creeping towards the direction of the two boys.

Even as it slowly kept getting closer, Ness froze staring at it. He could not tell what it was, or rather describe it. If anything, it was a moving space of black with an infinite number of hungry eyes. Just the idea was scary enough, but seeing it in a manifested form paralyzed the raven haired boy on the spot. The fact that it had the intent of coming towards them could scare any person that was less courageous to death.

But Ness did not let go of his bravery so easily. He sat still, waiting for the right time. Despite the being becoming more frightening as it crawled closer and closer, Ness still managed to muster the courage to jump and tackle the beast with a hardened fist, screaming out as well. However, he merely phased through it, and as he did, he felt a familiarized sense of guilt and fear for a brief moment—recalling the memory of a face he did not want to remember. He dropped onto his knees with widened eyes, and looked back at the shadow.

He stared at it to make sure that it was not the person he thought it was. As it looked back at him for just a moment, Ness confirmed it was still an intangible darkness. However, the shadow ignored the boy's vulnerability, and turned back to the other boy, who was still lying on the ground. It continued to crawl slowly with what Ness believed was the motive to envelop the boy forever in darkness.

Ness gasped as he realized the extreme danger the blonde was about to be put in. He struggled to push himself up, still shaking from the chills of fear that the shadow had just passed onto him. For a moment, he broke free and ran towards the unknown being again, pointing his open palm at it. He concentrated his mind energy, and cried out.

" _PK Rockin!"_

A strong wave of incorporeal energy shot out from Ness' hand and was sent straight at the shadow, causing it to disperse into shreds of black aura. The scent of malice died out quickly, and left the scene quietly.

Ness sighed out with relief as he relaxed on the fact that the defenseless boy was saved by his power. He hurried over to the boy's side again to make sure he was completely fine. To his surprise, as he kneeled down again, the blonde began to move his body.

"Ngh…" quietly sounded the blonde.

"Hey, wake up!" Ness exclaimed, refusing to let him rest.

"Huh?"

Lucas shot up from his stance and first met the sight of the forest. Then, he turned his head to meet dazing purple eyes, which widened and reflected his own gentle blue ones.

Both of them were happy to have finally met another person in this world.

* * *

 **A/N *Reviews So Far***

 **Smashgunner: I'm sorry if this story doesn't seem like it'll interest you. It is true so far this may not off to be a strong start, but I'm sure things will progress later. Still, to each their own, if you will.**

 **parinite: Thank you! Hope to continue to appeal!**


	4. Fantasy Forest

Chapter 4: Fantasy Forest

In the depths of an unknown land, only two lost boys who had no one and nothing else to turn to found sense of hope and relief at their first meeting. Neither of them were aware of their own smiles for the moment that they first stared into each other's eyes, but they found safety at the friendliness of the other's expressions. They froze within the calm breeze wrapped around, temporarily forgetting all the troubling questions they had about their sudden whereabouts.

The raven-haired psychic was the first to break the short silence. "Are you okay?"

The blonde slowly nodded, taking a moment to glance up and down the other boy. He was not sure if he was seeing an imagination. The boy was conscious, and talking to him, he thought. Not a dream. "Who are you?" he asked.

The other boy shifted into a small grin. "I'm Ness."

"Ness?" The blonde repeated. The name sounded exotic to him. He remembered he found the boy knocked out at first, so he stared at him worringly.

"Is something wrong?" Ness asked. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Lucas gently shook his head. "No, I'm fine. How about you?"

"Me? I'm fine. Was something wrong with me?"

Lucas weakly pointed to the earth. "I found you lying on the ground here."

"Really? …Then can you maybe tell me where I am?"

The blonde shook his head again. "I don't know where we are."

Ness's eyes widened. "You don't know?" He put a hand to his head and tried to recollect anything that led him to this place, but nothing in his memory immediately answered. All he remembered was entering the dream world from his bed, and everything was gray before and after that up until he woke up on the grass.

"…Well, isn't this Magicant?" Ness asked.

"Magicant?" the blonde repeated. "I don't know what that is…"

Ness awkwardly glanced away, assuming that the other boy wouldn't know much. "Okay then, what's your name?"

"Lucas," the other said. "…That's all I know."

"That's all you know?" Ness asked, smiling playfully. "Did you get hit on the head or something?"

Lucas frowned, unsure of what to say. "I don't know. I just know that this place isn't my home."

"So where is your home?" Ness asked.

Lucas shrugged. "I don't know."

Ness gracelessly grinned. He turned his head around to examine his surroundings once more, in hopes that something would seem familiar on the second try. Unfortunately for the both of them, he confirmed that there was nothing out of the ordinary in his sights. It all looked like a normal forest surrounding a tender glade bathed in dimmed sunlight.

"Just what is this place?" Ness mumbled. He put a hand to his forehead, slightly pinching a part of it. Confirming the sensation of pain, he realized that he really was in an unknown realm. He accepted that he was not dreaming, and that this place could not have been his Magicant.

Ness tried to call out to his friends from the world he remembered living in through his telepathic ability, using as much mind energy as he could. However, he felt his energy being blocked, or rather, it was reflected back to him in an instant. Then, he tried sending very frail, albeit long distance message waves in hopes that it would be received by someone else however far they may be. However, after scanning the paths each of the waves took, he understood that the forest trees were responsible for obstructing his communication ability.

"What was that?" Lucas questioned. "Was that your voice?"

Ness turned around and saw the other boy holding both hands to his head. From that moment, Ness recognized how special Lucas was. If it had been a normal person, their natural energies would usually deflect weak telepathic waves. But a psychic who has grasped their own power before would naturally catch messages without even trying.

"You're a psychic?" Ness asked.

Lucas blinked. "A psychic?" For a brief moment, he focused on the obscure senses through his body. He felt a strange, but accustomed presence of shivering aura that coursed from his head and flowed through the rest of his body as he concentrated it towards the tip of his fingers. A thin coat of force visible only to both of the boys' eyes glimmered in Lucas's hands.

The blonde gasped as he looked down at his body. "I think I am."

"That's cool!" Ness exclaimed.

"Huh…" Lucas took a deep breath, and his psychic energy retreated. "So are you a psychic too?"

"Yeah," Ness said. "I never thought I'd meet another psychic."

Lucas blinked, repeating the boy's remark in his mind. "Are psychics rare?"

"Somewhat. Two of my friends are psychics too, but I can't sense them around here. I tried reaching out to them with telepathy, but it didn't work." Ness looked back to the view of the trees behind him. "I need to get back. I have something important to do with them."

"I can help you find them," Lucas told.

"You will?" Ness asked.

Lucas nodded. "I'm looking for something too. I can help you find your friends while I do that."

Ness grinned, "All right, then let's get out of here. The sooner, the better."

Both of them looked beyond the arch created by two of the large trees, opposite to where Lucas had originally entered the grove from. Ness agreed with the direction to take, and they both headed away from the meadow together. As soon as they stepped into the depths of the forest, the winds whispered a farewell, and shook the leaves of everything behind them.

From as far as both could see, the path looked infinite. Abundant trees and trunks filled their eyes to no end, and by the time they looked back from where they first walked from, the sight of the grove disappeared. Neither was fazed by the confusion of the shadowy forest, as they both kept close to each other, knowing that if they lost each other, things would go very wrong.

It had been a quiet walk for both of them after they agreed on to just keep walking through the forest. They placed temporary full trust in each other, but both were still cautious of their surroundings. To ease the awkward strain between them, Ness tried to speak a word with each glance he made at the other boy. It took a few tries to actually open his mouth and let sound escape.

"So what is it that you're looking for?" Ness asked.

"It's…" Lucas paused, trying to find the right word. "…a ghost."

"A ghost…?" Ness repeated.

"Something like that," Lucas tried to explain. "When I first came here, I saw it enter the forest. I felt like I needed to follow it, as if it was trying to lead me to somewhere. I was hoping I could find it again."

"Maybe if we find it, it can lead us out of this place," Ness told. "It feels like we could walk forever and never get out."

"It does feel like that…" Lucas sighed.

Ness placed a hand to his head, trying to relax the small headache he had. "And I've been trying to keep calling out to my friends too, but it's not working at all."

"Is that the tingling I feel in my head?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, it's still reaching you?" Ness questioned. "Sorry, I don't have much control over telepathy yet. Anyone with psychic powers can receive messages from me pretty easily."

"It's all right. I was actually trying to reply back to you, but I don't know how."

"You just got to focus on trying to connect to my mind," Ness advised. "Basically, say things at the person you only want to talk to in your head. Easy to do, but telepathy is a little hard to do at the moment as long as we're in this forest."

"Why's that?"

Ness looked around the area, making sure nothing was hiding behind a tree as well as seeing if anything was actually out there. "I think the forest is interfering with our psychic signals."

"How can the forest do that?"

"I don't know. It sounds weird, but I really think it's stopping me from trying to reach my friends," Ness said. "That's why we have to get out of here. That's easy to say, but…I still don't see an exit."

Lucas suddenly stopped his pace, and Ness failed to notice until he was some steps away. "Lucas?" He backtracked effortlessly without bothering to turn around, but almost jumped when he heard Lucas yell.

"There!" Lucas pointed. "It's him!"

"What?"

In Lucas's sight, a human silhouette reappeared in the midst of many trees. He could only see the side view of the ghost, with its face hidden in the other direction. He recognized a striped t-shirt and amber shorts, which set off a peculiar alarm in Lucas's mind, much to the boy's curiosity. As soon as Lucas tried to step closer to it, the silhouette turned away further and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Lucas called out. He hurried his footsteps in an attempt to catch up to the ghost.

"Hey, hold on!" Ness called out. He kept his eye locked onto the other boy and matched his speed to a running pace. "Lucas!" he yelled to the boy running ahead of him, but he did not stop.

Lucas was too focused on trying to capture the ghost that was in his sights. He could sense a playful grin from the other side of the silhouette's face, which evoked another strange feeling in the boy's memory. He was reminded a blurry picture of him witnessing another boy who mimicked the silhouette's exact movements. Eventually, he heard the faint, but growing sound of light giggling. Bit by bit, color entered the picture, but the scene was not complete as soon as Lucas could infer what the memory turned out to be. His running speed gradually slowed as he watched the shadowed figure continue to run ahead while it laughed. At him.

At the moment Lucas's eyes widened, he missed a step and stubbed his shoe into a root, causing him to trip and hit the ground.

"Lucas?!" Ness gasped another last breath to give him the short burst and jump to the other boy's side. He kneeled down and helped pushed the other to stand up. "You okay?"

"No—" Lucas gasped. "I remember now. I'm looking for my brother…" he looked up at Ness's face. "We got separated, and—"

Right behind the raven haired boy stood a blackened figure with a million smiles. One of its intangible arms almost went unnoticed as it crept towards the two. A moment of fear struck Lucas's core until he saw that it almost reached Ness's back, who had no awareness of the presence.

"Look out!" Lucas quickly threw his arms around Ness's torso and held tight as he used all of his force to spring to the side. Unconsciously, Lucas added a touch of psychic burst to his feet, causing them to jump farther than expected. To their benefit, they escaped the clutch of the unknown foe, landing their heads next to a widening root of a tree.

As Ness recovered from the sudden tackle, Lucas looked back at the foe and caught a good grasp of the figure. Its human body looked so strikingly unique, and looked both unsettling yet familiar enough to rouse tension in him. Even though the shadow's form looked definite, he knew there was hostility in the air.

"Oh crap!" Ness exclaimed, now noticing the obscure beast. Both of them lied still for a moment, watching the black figure closely. It retracted its arm, and then took a soft step towards their direction.

Ness quickly reacted and held out his palms, concentrating a quick burst of mind energy towards his hands. He did his best not to stare into the shadow's eyes for the first few seconds, but at the very last moment, he sharply glanced straight into it. " _PK Rockin!_ "

From Ness's hand came a blast of myriad colors that continuously flashed in the immediate area. Lucas covered some of his vision with his arm, seeing only enough to witness the diminishing of the blacked shape. It quickly disintegrated into pure nothing and was wept into the air.

"Whew," Ness gasped. He put on a pleased smirk at the blonde, but was returned by a confused look.

"What was that?" Lucas asked.

"An attack of mine," Ness answered. "Good thing I'm here, huh—"

Their moment of relief quickly ended as Ness felt an immediate shift in the atmosphere. He knew Lucas felt the same, feeling a small jump from the other boy's body that rung through his hand. Both of them looked around to see a gathering of more intangible black souls, all seeming eager at the sight of the two boys.

"There's more?!" Lucas exclaimed. "What's happening?! Why are they coming after us?!"

"I don't know, but run!" Ness firmly gripped the other's hand and they both scampered into an open gap between the shadows. They blindly rushed through the endless forest with their fastest feet in hopes of achieving certain escape from the enemies that surrounded them. However, as they ran on through, the path ahead only grew darker and grim. Lucas's pace began to slow out of anxiety, but Ness refined the grip on his hand.

"Keep going!" Ness reassured.

The light from above faded very slowly as they continued to hurry through the trees, and soon they found their selves always surrounded by darkness no matter how fast they were. Ness never bothered to look back, but Lucas's panic returned as he was intimidated by the silent voices around him.

"Ness, they're getting closer!" Lucas exclaimed.

Ness grunted through his teeth as he tried to figure out how to resolve the growing issue. He held out his other open hand and waved it in front of him, ready to blast ahead. "Close your eyes, but keep running!"

"Okay!" Lucas responded. He shielded his head with his arm and shut his eyes tight, and let himself be guided by his companion's hand.

" _PK Flash!"_

A concentrated sphere of light appeared from Ness's palm, which quickly increased in size and then burst forth into a grand flare that illuminated the area. In the quick moment that the flash persisted, Lucas could see something bright behind his eyelids, and assumed it was Ness's psychic power. He confirmed it once he felt a subtle spark that fizzled between the miniscule gap in their hands. The psychic energy that he sensed coursing through Ness's body felt very recognizable.

As Lucas kept his eyes closed, he was not aware that they were still running for their safety. Ness's attack only temporarily ripped all of the shadows within the vicinity, but the spread out attack was too weak for everything at once. The dark aura of their surroundings quickly reformed the shadows and continued to chase after them.

"Darn, I thought that would work!" Ness exclaimed.

"Wait, Ness—!" Lucas gasped. He tugged back his arm and caused the other boy to decelerate his speed. As they reached a small clearing barricaded by trees around them, Lucas stumbled to the ground and gasped out multiple breaths, still trying to hold onto his companion.

"Are you okay?" Ness questioned, kneeling down to Lucas's level. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean to tire you out."

"I'm okay, " Lucas replied. He took another few breaths, "I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"We'll use _PK Flash_ together."

Ness blinked, "You know how to use PK Flash?"

Lucas nodded. "I remembered how. While you were holding my hand, I sensed the energy through your body. It helped me remember how to channel it."

"That's great! Then if we use it together, we can get rid of all those things chasing us."

"Hopefully," Lucas said, gasping once more. "Let me just breathe a bit—"

An invisible wave of malice coursed through the area, sending a shiver through the boys' bodies. Lucas turned around to see the eyes of darkness already caught up to them, hiding behind the depths of the woods. Ness looked left and right and discovered more of the unknown beings gathering around, all patiently waiting in the shadows as if waiting for more to join them before attacking.

"Crap," Lucas huffed. He pushed himself upwards. "All right, Ness."

The other boy nodded, "Okay."

Lucas extended his hands out and placed them together, the palms facing the sky. Ness copied the gesture and placed them close to the other boy's hands. As the tips of their fingers touched, both of them concentrated their mind energies and focused it to their hands. They both closed their eyes, deeply accumulating a peace of mind despite the eerie shadows continuing to surround them, soon creeping inward. In just another moment, their psychic energies collided and assimilated, resulting in a single sphere of light intensifying from the center of their combined hands.

The few hundred shreds of darkness that crawled toward the two unfazed boys suddenly paused in their tracks. Stunned by the light, they immediately froze and could do nothing to escape. They persisted in reaching for the vulnerable psychics, but the light that illuminated from the center of the area only increased in strength.

The two boys breathed slowly, concentrating their minds while matching each other's pace. They focused on nothing more than cycling each other's energies and continuously melding it with their own. They expanded the potency of their psychic power by combining them, resulting in a powerful illumination so bright that they would go blind instantly if they were just normal boys.

However, protected by their own psychosomatic energies, they intently glanced once at each other's eyes and signaled the final step.

" _PK Flash!"_

Unaware of how many shadows froze in place around them, they focused the rest of their all into the light and wished to eliminate anything that it could reach. The sphere of concentrated light finally exploded into uncountable waves of light, all having a devastating impact for those that opposed it.

Upon instant touch, the shadows bathed in the burst of light were immediately erased from existence, with every photon eating up every trace of darkness. As the fireworks of energy died out, everything slowly fell to silence, save for the doubtful breaths of the two psychic boys who stood still with caution.

" _Did we get them?"_ echoed a voice inside the blonde's head. The raven-haired boy quickly looked left, right, and behind him.

Instinctively, Lucas replied back after confirming the lack of fearful air. " _I think so,"_ was a message that Ness successfully received.

" _That's great! We did it!"_ He smiled back at the other who grinned at him, and then halted to surprise. " _Oh, you're using telepathy?"_

" _I am?"_ The blonde covered his mouth, trying to remember if he actually moved it within the past few seconds. " _You can hear me?"_ he thought.

" _Yeah, I can hear you. Guess you got telepathy down."_ Ness smirked.

" _I didn't even try and concentrate to use telepathy. I guess using up all that energy helped me familiarize myself with it."_

"Well, don't get used to using it so much," Ness spoke with sound. "Using too much psychic energy at once will really tire you out."

"I'll stop then," Lucas uttered.

"Anyways, it looks like we're safe now." Ness looked around them, unable to find a curious path within the shield of trees. "I still think we're lost, though."

Lucas took his turn in scanning the area as well. He hoped to find something that Ness couldn't. He focused into spotting any little detail that would be hiding within the depths of the endless background of trees. His eyes widened when he found something, seemingly walking away from him.

Yet again, it was the faint silhouette. Lucas took a few steps closer.

"It's him," Lucas said. "It's my brother."

"Where?"

Lucas pointed to one of the many open paths, in which Ness walked forward in. The raven-haired boy did his best to look as deep into the greens as he could, but nothing seemed peculiar to him.

"I don't see him?"

"He's right over there," Lucas assured. "He's down this way."

Ness still could not see the figure of another person in the direction Lucas pointed at. Could Lucas be hallucinating? No, he sensed nothing too odd from his friend. It was truthful words.

"I gotta catch up to him." Lucas attempted to walk away from the glade, but his arm was gently grabbed and held back.

"Wait, Lucas," Ness called. "What if it's a trap?"

"A trap? How can it be a trap?"

Ness tried to bring up as many cautious reasons as he could. "If you say you can see him, but I can't, something is weird about that. Plus, the first time we followed something you saw, we were surrounded by those…things."

"Well, what else are we supposed to do, just wander around this place forever?" Lucas questioned. "If my brother is trying to lead me somewhere, it's better than getting nowhere."

"I…guess that's true," Ness acquiesced.

"Plus, I can use my psychic powers now," Lucas told. "I'll help keep us safe if anything happens."

Ness nodded. "All right, then let's follow your brother."

"Okay, this way."

Lucas took the lead for their duo party and kept his eyes glued onto the blurry spirit that he found so unusual in his sight. The two of them trekked in a single direction between an infinite aisle of trunks and roots, with Ness being the only one keeping aware of any sudden attacks. As Lucas continued forward, he started to feel doubtful. Not once has Lucas even seen the face of the ghost yet, nor does he clearly remember his own brother's face. The unanswered questions piqued his curiosity, and urged him to try and hurry. Even as he walked faster at times much to Ness' curiosity, there was not any indication of closing the distance between them. It was as if the silhouette did its best to keep the distance strong.

"Hey, I see something?" Ness pointed ahead.

The darkened depths ahead of them faded into a glowing light. For one last time, both of them hurried their steps to rush to what looked like a relieving end to their journey. Lucas had hoped to finally catch up to the silhouette this time, but before he could reach it, the light blinded him. All that he last saw was the ghost entering the light.

Exiting the weary forest, the two boys were met with a breeze of revitalizing air that brushed everything on the open meadow ahead of them. Far ahead was yet another wall of trees, but that image seemed less important as they gasped at the calm scenery right in front of them.

"Finally, we're out of the forest again," Ness told.

"Maybe you can try contacting your friends again?"

"Good idea." Ness put two fingers to the side of his head and closed his eyes. Lucas silently watched the other boy concentrate, hoping that he would be able to reach out to them. Suddenly, Ness shut his eyes tight and opened them quickly.

"Still no good," Ness told. "I don't know why."

"Maybe we just need to get farther away from the forest," Lucas suggested.

"Yeah, let's try that."

The two boys continued onwards on their initial path, walking away from the trees behind them. The soft wavy fields of grass felt like clouds on their feet, almost dream-like. They walked in peace with the thought in mind until Ness spoke up.

"Do you see your brother, by the way?" he asked.

"No…" Lucas answered. "It's weird. I'm pretty sure I saw him come out this way."

"Maybe he's out farther. Let's keep going."

Ahead of the two was the center of the meadow, with nothing particular to take notice of. Lucas looked left and right up to the boundary of the area, thinking that he needed to search for the specter again. Perhaps it needed to lead them in a different direction, he thought. So far, he only instinctively walked forward, keeping his mind occupied by the thought of his unseen brother.

"Watch out—!"

Ness tackled the other boy in surprise, and right as Lucas hit the ground, he saw a menacing static of a black claw reach out where he was walking toward. Had Ness not moved him out of the way, the darkness emanating from the unknown figure would have demolished him, as it did to the patch of grassland before him.

"When did that get there?!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Just move out of the way!" Ness shouted, urging the other away with a push. The blonde quickly scurried to a distance until he turned back and watch the capped boy dodge another attack from what looked like a four-legged beast.

" _PK Rockin!_ " Ness hurled out a blast of energy from his palms, directly impacting the target. However, the waves bounced off the black static, causing no visible effect to the beast.

"What?!" Ness grunted. Astonished by his weakness, he was caught off guard and failed to see another incoming attack. Another of the shadow's claws swung down onto the ground, almost reaching the boy. However, the impact to the ground caused Ness to fly back and crash.

"Gah—ugh!"

"Ness!" Lucas hurried to his companion's side. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

Ness took one hard breath before forcing himself up, "All right!"

The two of them quickly fled from the center of the area, heading towards the other side of the meadow. They were about to meet another forest which they bought thought would hold safety for them. However, before they reached the area, the shadow instantly reappeared in front of them, with a claw ready to swing down.

Ness quickly grab held of Lucas's hand and pulled him away to the side, managing to avoid a direct hit from the shadow.

"It's not gonna let us run away," Ness told.

"Then we'll fight it," Lucas said. He held out his palms together and aimed it at the beast. " _PK Flash!_ "

A burst of light flew from Lucas's hands and straight into the shadow's body, scattering into an instant flash upon contact. Similar to Ness's initial attack, the darkened monster did not flinch, but only paused temporarily.

"Wha—?!" Lucas gasped.

"Lucas, let's try it together!" Ness exclaimed.

"Ah, right!"

The two stepped back as much as they could before the beast noticed them enlarging the gap between them. Immediately, the two boys brought their palms together and quickly gathered up an appropriate amount of mind energy, forming another sphere of light in their hands. As soon as the sphere reached an anticipated size, they looked towards the shadow and sent it flying.

" _PK Flash!_ "

The larger sphere crashed into the center of the shadow's body and burst into an amazing explosion. There was an inaudible shriek that the two boys faintly heard within the aftermath of the blast, notifying them that there had been an effect. However, the cloud of dirt revealed the shadow still standing, although with part of it conspicuously missing. As it stood still in its spot, they both noticed that it was recovering its lost limbs.

"It's still standing," Ness stated. "One more time, Lucas!"

Ness had his hand ready to join with Lucas's attack again, but the blonde failed to oblige quickly. Ness looked over and noticed that he had kneeled down, holding his head in pain. "Headache," Lucas groaned.

"You used too much already," Ness told. "It's okay, I got it." He ran forward to the stilled beast and extended his arm out, ready to fire another blast of psychic energy.

" _PK Rockin!_ "

The close range attack shot Ness back as his energy waves exploded onto the shadow's broken body. There was still a lack of effect on the beast, and it only continued to gradually recover.

"Still nothing?!" Ness questioned.

"We have to combine our powers to take it down," Lucas said.

"But you can't—any more and you'll be really pushing it," Ness told.

"I have an idea, come here quick." Ness backed up to Lucas's side once more as the latter stood up clumsily. "Give me your hand."

Ness offered out his left hand to the blonde, and it was gently snatched by Lucas's two hands. The blonde quietly concentrated his energy to flow from his fingers and break the boundaries of his body, coming into contact with Ness's latent energies. No explanation was needed; the raven-haired psychic recognized the sensation that he was receiving from the other boy, and he slowly felt empowered as the new energy naturally melded with his own.

Lucas kept a firm grasp on Ness's hand, continuing to clasp it tight and sending out his power to his ally's body. "Do it, Ness!"

"Right!" Ness tightened his hold onto Lucas's hand and extended out his other arm at the shadow, which had finished recovering its lost darkness. The beast slowly approached with the intent to strike at them again, readying one of its claws.

Lucas poured every ounce of psychic energy as fast as he could, grimly looking at the beast that was about to assault them. Right as the shadow raised its claw, Lucas shut his eyes and turned his head away.

" _ **PK Rockin!"**_

From the boy's petite hand shot out a grandiose wave of colorful energy that ripped through the shadow's body, shattering it into bits of thin darkness. Ness kept pouring out energy waves and sprayed it onto every visible bit of black space in front of him, ensuring that nothing was left behind. A silent scream was all that was heard as Ness finished off the rest of the beast.

Ness stumbled to the ground as he held his head still to hold back the aftershock of overusing his psychic abilities. He managed to shake it off, but still felt very tired. He gasped for a breath and smiled at the sky.

"All right, it's done. We did it, Luc—"

The hands that had held him had lightened their grip, and easily slid off of him. He quickly grabbed one of the hands to prevent it from hitting the ground and looked over to see that the blonde had collapsed.

"Lucas?" Ness called out. "Hey, are you okay…?"

As Ness was about to reach out to shake the boy's shoulder, his head felt uncontrollably dizzy. He knew he pushed his own self by continuing to use his psychic powers beyond his bravado, and thought nothing would happen to him if he insisted on braving through the situation. The aftereffects of his overuse eventually became too strong, and his vision began to spin. Ness quickly fell forward next to Lucas, shutting his eyes and unable to open them with a peaceful mind.

"Crap…I really overdid it too…" Ness thought. He did his best to open just one eye and peek at Lucas's still face. He then crunched his eyes and his clasp on Lucas's hand once more before the shock in his mentality forced him to fall unconscious on the spot.

* * *

 **A/N *Reviews So Far***

 **Ninten64** \- Yep, this is the redux of what was _Illusio Island_. Basically I restarted the story with a new concept in mind. I think this one will be more entertaining at the very least.

 **Everyone else as of 9-25-16:** Thank you for your interest! And sorry for the long wait, I didn't really expect for the next chapter to be finished after needing so much time. Then again, I'm in 5 classes this semester, with homework every week at least, so the only time I get to write leisurely is on the weekends. So yeah, it took about 4 Sundays for this chapter. But I hope you look forward on what's to come, because I know I am!


	5. Abandoned

Chapter 5: Abandoned

The clouds perpetuated slowly over the world. However, the sky, painted with violet gloom, forever froze.

The strayed boys awoke to lavender completely filling their vision. They lied still, weary from their battle not too long ago, and thought that the sky above them was slowly revitalizing them. Though, it was almost as if they could sleep forever under such a beautiful view.

Ness, however, felt that something was off-putting from his sense of comfort, and forced himself awake out of his sleepy trance. The next thing that surprised him was the sudden change of his surroundings. He found himself resting in a small clearing surrounded by thin trees—completely different from fainting in a land purely made with grass. The trees, however, looked old and dreadful, as if they had been growing in poisoned soil.

Beside Ness was his recent companion, the frail-looking blonde. His eyes were still lulled by the sky, and his body was still. Ness quickly shook him awake. "Lucas? Lucas!"

Lucas's eyes widened instantly, and he sat himself up. Rubbing his eyes, he looked down at his hands, and then around. He stopped upon seeing Ness again.

"What happened?" the blonde asked.

Ness shook his head. "I don't know." He looked beyond the trees again, only to see something off putting about the horizon in his view. It was the fact that he could easily see the horizon.

The two boys passed through the trees and walked towards the skyline. The dry earth ahead of them was cut off by a wooden fence. Looking over the cliff, they were riddled with enigma about the world they were standing in.

Neither of them could figure out where they were any more. At the very least, they knew they were not in their respective worlds. There was no such place that could look so dark, bleak, and full of...nothing.

They stood on a tall hill, looking over higher mountains surrounding them. The most peculiar thing was a dark forest that endlessly connected, trapping a visible clearing in the middle of the area. And in that clearing, peculiar settlements and buildings could be seen.

"There may be someone over there," Ness pointed to what he assumed was a small town in the forest clearing.

Lucas huffed, looking at the only route possible to the settlement. "We have to walk all the way over there, though…"

"It's better than being here." Ness looked to the side and found a declining dirt trail that would eventually lower them to the forest. At the end of the trail, it would be a straightforward walk to the settlement.

Lucas understood, and nodded. "Right."

 **:*:**

Nighttime seemed to have lasted forever as they continued onwards. The violet sky lacked constellations, but the clouds collaborated to block out all possible entries of light. It was as if the world conspired to deny all light of hope onto the land.

The two boys trailed the steep path down to the darkened forest, and continued to walk through cautiously. Nothing was said between them as they let mud stick to their shoes, but they knew they had each other's backs. Anxious with whatever could jump out at them from the bushes, they focused on reaching their destination safely first before they could talk about anything they wanted to. As they believed they reached closer to the settlement they saw, the path only continued to grow narrower. Though they continued to tread with growing fatigue, they persisted in leaving the forest.

Eventually, they reached a peculiar stone bridge, leading to what they believe would be the village they saw from afar. The dark sky slowly dissipated as they crossed the bridge, and they could finally see sunlight rising from beyond the high mountains. Though, its rising light did little to lighten the silent tension in the air.

The sunlight slowly blanketed the village as they crossed the bridge. Up close, they saw that most of the buildings looked very tarnished and damaged. Pieces of metal sheets of roofing and walls were falling apart off buildings as well as scattered amongst some walkable paths. Excessive greenery looped through and over fallen metal fences placed at some house buildings, as well as over a few public constructions that Ness identified as a pay phone booth and a foreign mailbox, which felt out of place for such a rustic looking village. Lucas recognized a small shrine beneath a tree, with an unfamiliar dirty clay figure glued to its wooden temple. Most importantly, they both noticed the lack of humans.

"Hello?!" Ness bravely called out. "Is anyone here?! We need help!"

There was no response for at least five seconds. Ness yelled into a different direction of buildings, "Hello?! Somebody?!"

Lucas looked around the area one more time, eventually turning his head to the path they came from. In the background, he sees massive hills that take the form of mountains, and identified the long route they took from one of them. He was amazed by how far they had gone, and hoped they didn't have to go back.

"No one's answering…" Ness acquiesced after a few more moments. "Let's go check inside the houses."

Lucas nodded, "All right."

The first house nearby was a simple and small one. The front door was one that slid open rather than swinging, and Ness opened it cautiously without knocking. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone home?"

Another moment passed, and there was still no answer. The two boys walked in to examine the contents of the house. Down the thin hallway, they located a living room on the right and a kitchen and bedroom on the left. Save for the distinguishing furniture, there was no sign of living presences in the house. In fact, Lucas rubbed his finger on a lonely desk, and looked disgusted at the amount of dust he swept up. Ness had then only noticed how much dust was on the floor as well, and advised them to carefully watch their step as they exited the house.

The two boys went to examine another house, one that was a little further into the heart of the village. It was designed differently than the first one, but there was no sign of anyone living in the home as well. Dust was scattered all over the house, and weeds were prominent in the front yard. They found the same in a few more houses they decided to check. Aside from millions of dust particles, the houses were overall clean. _Clean_ , in the definition that it was as if no one was living in the houses in the first place.

"Where are all the people?" Ness asked. He looked down the road in both directions, hoping one more time that someone would appear. "A town this big has got to have someone."

"Maybe they're camping or something?" Lucas suggested.

"This place… might be abandoned." Ness sighed, hoping that it wasn't true.

Lucas gave him an uncertain look. "That's weird, because I saw a lot of vegetables growing pretty healthily."

Ness blinked. "What?"

Lucas led the way back and towards a different path, leading to a bountiful field laid next to a creek of clean water. In Ness's eyes, the area looked unusually like a field of harvests, but Lucas was sure the crops were nearly grown.

"These are vegetables?" Ness questioned, still unsure of what he was seeing.

"Yeah, come here." Lucas approached the nearest shaggy stalks and planted his feet carefully into the ground. He gave a test pull upwards, and then used both hands to remove the plant. He easily unearthed a bush of spuds, and waved it in front of the other boy's face to see.

"Potatoes?" Ness identified.

"Yeah," Lucas answered. "And over there…" he pointed to a farther area of the fields, "I see cabbage, carrots, some corn... and I think eggplants? Most of these haven't completely matured, but they're still edible if they're taken out now."

"So we can eat them now if we want to," Ness voiced.

"We could," Lucas agreed. "No one apparently seems to be here. But this place…" He rubbed his finger into the soil, and pinched a speck between his fingers. The sensation of the damp dirt feels a little reminiscent, but he was unsure of the memory. "The field here feels so well-maintained. It was as if there _were_ people living here… until maybe just a day ago."

"…Are you sure we should eat these then?" Ness inquired cautiously, until his stomach growled loud enough for the both of them to hear.

Lucas grinned, almost holding back a forced chuckle. "They don't look bad—I think it'll be fine. If whoever comes back doesn't like us eating them, we can offer to help with their farm work for a bit."

"I guess," Ness shrugged.

"We can come back for these after we get a basket or something," Lucas expressed. "Let's really make sure that there's no one here."

They left the field and returned to the heart of the village again—a main square, although empty and round—seemed to be the middle of the area. If people were truly living here, they would have seen each other walking through the different paths and entering houses. Down one path, opposite to where the two had arrived from, seemed to be another entryway into the village, and they decided to check that route. The village border ended with a house, which was just as empty, and the dirt road continued into another forest, with its depths unviewable. They dared to not travel that far again, at least not until they were ready.

They returned to the entrance of the village—to the bridge where they had first crossed—with nothing to begin and end with. There was absolutely no sign of people for as much as they saw.

"This is really weird," Ness commented. "Tons of houses, prosperous farms… but no sign of people at all."

"Maybe it's just us in the world."

Ness looked to the blonde, who stared blankly into the sky. He was fazed by those words.

Lucas clutched his chest, holding back the growing anxiety within him. He tried to convince himself he needed to stay cautious, but it only added to how worrisome he felt about being alone with nothing to guide him. If there was nothing to go on about, what was he supposed to do?

Ness concerned himself with the same impression. He had still not found a way to return to his friends, and worried about what trouble they may be in without him. He also wanted to wonder why—why, if it were true, that it was just the two of them in the world, and why it was _them_ specifically. But there were no clues to go on about all the questions he had, so it was useless to try and think about it.

Ness patted his companion's shoulder to shake him out of it before he went on about it.

"Let's not worry too much," Ness suggested. "Why don't we rest first? Get some food in us?"

Lucas grinned. "Sounds good."

They returned to the crop fields, taking two baskets along with them that they had found in a nearby house. After gathering an assortment of vegetables, they returned to that same house to shorten the need of walking. Lucas had a hunch, and looked into the kitchen area. He had conveniently found unused silverware and pots, and set the baskets onto a table.

"We can use these," Lucas told. "And the stove…" He turned one of the dials, and listened carefully to the sound of gas releasing into the stove. Then, there was a flicker, and one of the cooktops had lit up.

"The stove actually works?" Ness asked.

Lucas nodded as he extinguished the flames. "We can use it too. Now we just need water. We can probably boil the creek water…"

"What about the well?"

Lucas blinked. "There's a well?"

This time, Ness led the way to a small water reservoir behind a few houses. Lucas examines the stone well, pumping it and watching the water flowing into the storage sink right next to it.

Lucas lets go of the pump. "The water looks clean enough. I think it's safe for us to drink."

Ness cups the last running flow of water with his hands, and brings it to his mouth. "Tastes safe."

"Right. And I could use this to cook the vegetables."

Ness widened an eyebrow. "You can cook?"

Lucas shrugged. "I remember just being able to boil vegetables together, if you count that as cooking."

"Works for me. I could eat anything right now." Ness patted his empty stomach, hoping to keep it calm for just a bit longer.

They bring a couple of buckets filled with water back to the house they chose to reside in, setting them beside the table. Ness helped prepare the vegetables to be cooked per Lucas's help with how to, and then patiently waited in the living room as the rest was handled by himself.

Lucas stirred up a meal of decently diced potatoes, carrots, and cabbage, as it was all he knew he could confidently offer for now. After ensuring a thorough simmer of the ingredients, he served adequate portions for Ness and himself.

Ness, taking an immediate first bite, was not so surprised about the given meal. He liked soft potatoes, and didn't mind vegetables, but there was just not enough flavor to make the meal memorable. He smiled though, to show his friend that he was thankful for the food that would let him live another day.

They set their bowls away and then sat back against the wall of the empty living room. Everything in the world was silent to them, and they depended on each other to keep each other's sanity safe. Though now, with the belief that they really were the only two people in this world, there were too many topics to talk about comfortably that they couldn't quickly decide on what to converse about. Ness was first to spit out the first thing that came to mind.

"So, have you lived on a farm before?" he questioned.

"Huh?" Lucas looked him.

"You seem like you knew what you were doing out there," Ness added. "Pulling out all the vegetables carefully. Knowing how well cared the soil was."

Lucas sighed. "Honestly, I can't remember much… but doing what I did feels familiar somehow. Maybe I did live on a farm. I think there were animals that I took care of too…"

"Like…?"

"Cows… pigs? What else…"

"Sheep?'

"Yeah! Sheep. I remember hearing a lot of 'baa'-ing noises from them…"

"How about horses?'

"Horses, too! I think my parents kept a couple—"

Lucas's excited expression dropped immediately. Despite uttering the word, he failed to remember the faces of his parents. "Parents," he repeated. "My mom and dad… I can't remember what they look like."

Ness genuinely looked concerned, and scratched his head. He tried to remember his own too, but nothing had immediately came to mind. "If it helps, I can't remember my own too."

"But you remember you friends?" Lucas questioned.

"Pretty well," Ness nodded.

"What're they like?" Lucas asked.

"Mmm," Ness hummed as he leaned back against the wall. "One of them's a girl. She's very pretty, but also very strong. She has psychic powers, too. There's also another guy, kind of dorky-looking. But he's super smart—like a scientist—he can build tools and make these cool things called bottle rockets. The other one is a prince—he's pretty cool too. He's also psychic like me."

"What're their names?" Lucas asked.

Ness articulated the first syllable, but failed to understand what he was about to say. In fact, he couldn't complete the name. It was as if he instantly forgotten.

"Puh—?" Lucas repeated.

"I… don't remember." Ness held his head, and closed his eyes, trying to go through his entire mind. He knew their faces, knew their personalities, and everything else about them—all except for their names. "It's so weird. Why don't I remember?"

"You don't have to stress yourself," Lucas told.

"I know, but—this is frustrating. How can I not remember their names? How… how are we not remembering things?"

Lucas let his memories wander too, but failed to recall significant events in his past life. "It is pretty frustrating."

Ness looked to the blonde. "You remember your brother, right?" Ness asked. "What's he like?"

"Brother…" Lucas could actually recall such a face in his mind as soon as he repeated the word. He had the same face as him—or perhaps his mind was playing a trick due to fatigue—but he wouldn't doubt it. He had virtuous eyes just as Lucas had, and the personality of an annoying, but caring brother. Though, anything that he did with him was all a blur. He only remembered one important detail.

"Claus," Lucas said. "His name is Claus."

"Claus," Ness repeated. The raven-haired understood how hard Lucas was trying to remember, as he was putting on an expression similar to how he had when he tried to recollect his own past. He patiently waited, hoping that something would evoke over time.

"…That's all," Lucas finally said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Ness assured.

The room was silent again. They kept to their selves for another few moments, trying on their own to recall anything about their selves. They then wondered why they only had so few memories in them, because they were both sure there was more to their lives than just friends and family.

Ness particularly remembered Magicant. It was the dream world within his own self that he would enter whenever he needed a place of peace and tranquility. He vaguely remembered entering Magicant not too long ago, but from when and where in the real world, he did not remember. He doubted Lucas knew about it, and suspected wherever he was now being _not_ Magicant.

"Hey, Ness?"

Ness turned his head, making eye contact with Lucas. "Yeah?"

"Do you think… we're dreaming or something?"

Ness looked beyond Lucas into another room, where a window displayed the outside hills and sky. He repainted the blue sky into the gloomy purple that it was earlier, and sighed. "If we are, I hope we wake up soon."

Lucas proceeded to pinch his arm, wincing lightly. "Ow. Yeah, not a dream."

Ness chuckled, realizing what the blonde was trying to do. But if the pain Lucas felt was real, then it only confirmed his deepening worries about where he was.

"What're we going to do?" Lucas asked. "Neither of us know what we're doing here, we can't remember anything, and there's no one to help us."

"Hey, we have each other, right?" Ness protested. "At least we're not in this mess alone."

Lucas grinned. "Right."

Ness turned his head back forward. "I wish we could get to know each other more, but apparently we both can't remember much."

"Well, for starters, we know each other's names," Lucas stated.

"Yeah," Ness responded, weakly chuckling. "Oh… how old are you?"

"Thirteen," Lucas answered.

"Oh, me too!" Ness turned his head back. "Do you know your birthday?"

"April 20th."

"Dang it, you're older… oh, wait, what year?"

"Does it matter who's older?" Lucas chuckled.

"To me, yes!" Ness jested.

"1996. And you?"

"June 5th, 1995! I'm older!" Ness pumped a fist downwards with joy.

"What, so should I call you 'Mister Ness' then?" Lucas laughed.

"Nah, I was only curious. I'm just glad you're around my age at least."

"Me too," Lucas agreed.

"Hmm… what's your favorite color?" Ness inquired. "Mine's blue."

"I like red," Lucas answered. He looked down at his shirt, and then at Ness's shirt. He found it strange that they both had the same style of clothing, save the different favorite colors.

"Do you have a favorite food?" Ness asked.

"Omelettes," Lucas replied. "You?"

"Steak," Ness proudly answered. "Medium-rare, that is."

"Oh, steak… I prefer mine well done at least."

Ness faked a revolted glare. "You disgust me."

Lucas forced a smile, and then they both ended up laughing together. As they calmed, Lucas brought the next question.

"How did you find out you were a psychic?"

"Hmm…" Ness hummed again. "That I can't remember. I just know I have… powers." He snapped his finger, intentionally showing off a spark of energy in front of Lucas's eyes.

"Huh." Lucas snapped his own fingers too, concentrating his mind energy into his fingers. There was indeed a flicker, but not as vividly strong as Ness's. Perhaps he didn't try hard enough, or had little power to offer.

"Speaking of which, what did you do back then?" Ness queried.

"Back when?"

"When we fought that giant… _thing_ ," he explained. "You were giving me more energy or something."

Lucas silently gasped. "Oh, that… I was, in a way. Here, I'll show you again. Gimme your hand."

Ness scooted closer and offered out his hand. Lucas sandwiched it between both of his, and focused a flow of energy from his body into his hands. Ness sensed the blonde's strength flowing into his hand, and eventually naturally merged with his own. It was giving him a boost of vitality.

"I'm not sure what's the name for this," Lucas said as he ceased the energy flow. "But I can boost your attacks like this."

"Hmm…" Ness nodded. "PK Power-Up?"

"PK… _Power-Up_?" Lucas repeated.

"Or… well, it's based on improving a PK… so maybe PSI would be better…" Ness mumbled himself. "PSI Power-Up…? _Offense Up_? Hmm…"

"What is this PK and PSI thing?" Lucas questioned.

"Oh. PK is short for _psychokinesis_ , and PSI is short for _psionics_ ," Ness answered.

"What's the difference?"

"Materializing your psychic energy into an attack is _psychokinesis_. So like _PK Flash_ , it's an attack in the form of light, but it's all made from our psychic energy."

"Okay. And _psionics?"_

"I don't have much PSI moves for myself, but it's usually psychic energy that doesn't materialize into a shape or form so easily. In your case, you gave me a boost in psychic power. It was energy that was just flowing through me, it had no shape to take form for us to see. That would be PSI."

Lucas nodded. "I understand now. Why are you trying to name them?"

"It's better to know what you can do by name, right?" Ness answered. "If we need to fight again, you'll know what to do if I call out to you."

"Well, you can figure out the names by yourself," Lucas told. "I still don't know much about psychic powers yet."

Ness nodded. "That's fine with me, I'll figure something out. I just really hope we don't have to actually fight those… _things_ , again."

"Those _things_ ," Lucas restated. "Maybe you should give those a name too."

Ness shook his head. "I still don't even know what they are. And I don't think I want to."

"I understand," Lucas nodded. "Those things looked… really creepy."

"Well, I didn't see any sign of them while we wandered around the village. We should be fine."

"I hope so."

Ness stood up, stretching his arms. "That said, why don't we go sleep? We'll need to fully rest to do more exploring."

Lucas shrugged his head. "Well, I am still feeling tired from all that walking…"

"Yeah, so let's go find some beds."

They didn't need to do much searching for the bedroom, as it was across the hallway. Lucas located futons in one of the closets, and helped lay them out on the floor. They both examined the pads, seeing that they looked and felt clean. Ness even noted that they smelled rather clean too, as if never used before, but was washed and dried with a scent of cleanliness.

They locked the door for their own safety. Each of the boys made their selves at home, getting comfortable enough to sleep in the same room together peacefully. They had no special quirks when it came to sleep, except for the fact that they both wanted to wear pajamas, but there were no spare clothes lying around. There wasn't much they could do about it, so they decided to sleep in their normal wear.

With the daylight blocked from the window, the room was dark and set an environment for quiet rest. The boys laid down in their respective beds, looking at each other one last time to made sure they were beside each other. Then, they shut their eyes, hoping to fall asleep without protest.

Hours easily passed. The bright sky dimmed out over time, and eventually large clouds of gray rolled in rather than a purple gloom. Rain fell on the land, with occasional roars of thunder. Had the boys been awake, it would have been something assuring to see, knowing nature worked as normal.

 _Help me…_

Lucas immediately sprang up, echoing the voice of a boy in his head. It wasn't his own voice. Was it Ness's?

He looked over to see the raven-haired boy still downed—or rather, he looked knocked out. Ness's eyes were wide open, but difficult to see in the darkness. When he sat up as well, both boys' suspicions only grew bigger.

"Did you hear it too?" Ness asked.

"A voice, saying ' _Help me_?'" Lucas reaffirmed.

"Yeah—it was telepathy!" Ness exclaimed.

Lucas's eyes widened. "Someone's out there?"

Ness quickly put on his shoes, and tossed Lucas his. "Come on!"

The two rushed out of the house and into heavy rain, already majorly wetting their clothes. Ness tapped into his mind, sending out another call of telepathic messages in every direction he could, hoping to invoke another call from the unknown voice. Lucas had heard Ness's communication, and tried his best to call out too with his own power, but was unsure if he was successful in sending out a message.

They ran together down the path leading to the village center, calling out telepathically as they rushed through blinding rain and large moonlight to brighten their path. Lucas was getting less certain of the voice that failed to respond to them, but Ness didn't want to give up. He tried to call out once more, this time with as much mental strength he could muster, in hopes that the range of his message expanded.

 _Help…_

"There it is again," Lucas acknowledged, erasing his doubts.

"Where is he?" Ness questioned. "Come on, _tell us where you are_ …"

The two decided to expend their energy rushing to the front of the village—a big possibility as to where the voice could have originated from. The bridge was far in sight, but they ran through puddles and heavy dirt as fast as they could to close the gap.

"Ness, look!"

At the entrance of the village was another human figure. There was nothing irregular about the body they saw—it was a live, tangible human who had collapsed on the ground. Shocked by the sudden appearance, they hurried over and checked on the person's condition.

As they inched closer, they realized it was another young boy, with similar age and height features compared to them. The downed boy had a disheveled hairstyle of black color, and almost seemed facially familiar to Ness as Lucas witnessed, despite his face and neckerchief stained with mud.

"He doesn't look too good," Ness concluded.

Lucas placed his ear close to the boy's chest, and adjusted his hearing to find a soft drumbeat. "He's still alive, but we need to get him inside."

Ness took one shoulder around his neck. "Let's take him back into the house. Help me out here."

 **:*:**

 **Reviews:**

 **Darude Dogestorme & StarTiger7**: Thank you, and so sorry for the VERY long wait (and for anyone else reading!). But I was recently inspired to finally start up this fic again. No promises, but I have a lot of motivation at the moment and I hope to make the best of it while it lasts.


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